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Sophia Aldous
PRIEST RIVER – How do your government representatives approach public education? That was the line of questioning people had for Idaho District 1B Rep. Cornel Rasor and District 1 state Sen. Jim Woodward at the Dec. 18 West Bonner County School District (WBCSD) Board of Trustees meeting. District 1A Rep. Mark Sauter was scheduled to attend via Zoom but could not be reached.
Woodward will serve on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee as Vice Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and has also been assigned to the Senate Education Committee. Woodward said that approximately six or seven years ago Idaho’s income tax was at 7.4% and has since fallen to 5.696%.
“That definitely changes the revenue stream for the state,” Woodward said. “I think overall we’re in pretty good shape financially in Idaho, but we don’t have the revenues that we had in past years.”
State government committees started the day after Gov. Brad Little’s state of the state address on Jan. 6, with the legislature beginning the budget process.
When asked by a member of the crowd what issues about education were important to him, Woodward said the conversation about public funds in private education is ongoing and the state needs to address whether it will fully fund public education the minimum requirements of the constitution.
“The constitution requires us to support the public education system and meet that minimum, and then we can go beyond that if we want to,” Woodward said.
Rasor, who will serve on the Health and Welfare, Business and Local Government committees, asked the board of trustees how fast the funds are being made available from House Bill 521. WBCSD is receiving approximately $3.9 million from HB 521, which was enacted in 2024 by Little and the Idaho Legislature. The bill aims to provide $1.5 billion over the next decade to help fund building construction and maintenance for public schools in Idaho.
Superintendent Kim Spacek said the district was scheduled for the first payment to arrive in December in a series of installments.
Former WBCSD teacher and current Priest River City Council member Candy Turner asked both legislators for their opinions on the 2006 shift in school funding from property taxes to a 1% sales tax increase and how they felt about potentially changing it back. Woodward said he thinks that financial obligation for public schools should be shifted to the general fund, which is income and sales tax. He also added that the state should reexamine the grocery sales tax in relation to non-Idaho residents and residents’ grocery tax credit, as well as Idaho’s homeowner’s exemption.
“We need to look at how that is applied and perhaps bring that to a different level as a possible solution to helping solve some funding problems in public education,” Woodward said.
Idaho’s Homeowner's Property Tax Exemption is equal to either 50% of the assessed value or up to $125,000, whichever is less, for owner-occupied homes and manufactured homes that are considered the deeded owners' primary residence. The exemption applies to a home and up to one acre of land.
Rasor said that while he had not followed the issue much as a public citizen, he concurred with Woodward that moving more school funding to the state’s general fund could offer a viable solution.
“However, I wouldn’t want to overburden the general fund, but I think the state could come up with other streams of income to cover those losses,” Rasor said. He added that he will better educate himself on the issues surrounding public school funding.
Board Chair Margaret Hall mentioned generating tax revenue through second homes in the area that currently don’t contribute without the district running and passing a levy.
